To be honest, Bart, I would have preferred the championships remained as they were but had been run off in a more structured way, Senior 1st round preceding Inter 1st - Inter 1st preceding Junior A, etc…
But that wasn’t happening. The other thing that has changed the landscape on this is that a few clubs have become very, very big over the last 20-25 years, or so. Some of that is down to very hard work on the ground. But it is also down to some of these clubs having huge catchment areas. Smaller clubs cannot compete. It has to be pointed out that some of that is of their own making by NOT working as hard as they could do. But a lot of it is down to not having sufficient numbers in their areas. The circumstances that brought some of the big clubs that we have now into being in the 50’s and 60’s by way of amalgamation now possibly exist in the opposite to the extent that the argument could be made for some of these clubs to be split back to where they were pre-amalgamation.
But that’s not going to happen. I think the fairer solution is what will come into being next year. I think it is at least worthy of a 3 or 4 year trial.

To be honest, Bart, I would have preferred the championships remained as they were but had been run off in a more structured way, Senior 1st round preceding Inter 1st - Inter 1st preceding Junior A, etc…
But that wasn’t happening. The other thing that has changed the landscape on this is that a few clubs have become very, very big over the last 20-25 years, or so. Some of that is down to very hard work on the ground. But it is also down to some of these clubs having huge catchment areas. Smaller clubs cannot compete. It has to be pointed out that some of that is of their own making by NOT working as hard as they could do. But a lot of it is down to not having sufficient numbers in their areas. The circumstances that brought some of the big clubs that we have now into being in the 50’s and 60’s by way of amalgamation now possibly exist in the opposite to the extent that the argument could be made for some of these clubs to be split back to where they were pre-amalgamation.
But that’s not going to happen. I think the fairer solution is what will come into being next year. I think it is at least worthy of a 3 or 4 year trial.

I would agree and with a proper regrading system the status quo could have remained
But that process has always been a shambles

It is the ignoring of the grading system that is the problem, guys playing at a lower level without ever applying for regrading. Two caught this year but they were only the tip of the iceberg. The cheating has gone on too long, hopefully the new process with cut it out.